Reeled products such as adhesive tapes, aluminium foils, and toilet papers, pose a unique trouble while they are dispensed from their roll. By virtue of being packed in a rolled manner, dispensing them becomes a tedious task as far as locating the ends or tearing them for customized use is concerned. Typical dispensers such as tape dispensers address this issue by having a cutting edge that facilitates tearing of the tape at the desired length. Even though, this arrangement is convenient, many of such dispensers do not have the facility to prevent spontaneous reattachment of the tape end back to the reel whereby re-locating the end is often difficult.
These dispensers are further heavy or bulky, being much larger than the roll they accommodate. These devices are mostly designed as table top devices. Attempts have been made to provide a dispenser for holding a reel so that it is easy to tear the reel and still retain its end separated from the roll. These attempts were not highly successful particularly because such an arrangement would have required different dispensers for each size of the reel.
Use of clip dispensers has largely negated the bulkiness aspect associated with traditional dispensers, but the problem with a typical clip dispenser is that they cannot provide constant and positive holding force with the decreasing thickness of the reel layers. It is further noticed that when the size of the reel is minimum the clips of the dispenser runs the risk of being released from the crust of the reel. It is further noticed that such dispensers will tear and deform the edges of the sides of the reel while the dispenser slides through the reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,276 discloses a compact tape shear which is a plastic material that is transversely strapped around the tape roll and its core. The shear comprises a locking tongue and a cutting edge. However, the holding force provided by the shear of the '276 patent decreases with the decreasing thickness of tape layers, resulting in loss of stability. This eventually translates into an un-effective functioning of cutting edge and hence the shear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,580 disclose a tape dispenser which is held in position by engaging the sides of the tape roll only. The '580 patent specifically discuss the dispenser having two flank sections located on either sides and these flanks are clipped onto the reeled tape in a radial direction. However, the '580 patent does not provide answers to the issues of loosing the holding forces with decreasing the thickness of the reel. The design of the dispenser of the '580 patent also pose a risk of the dispenser getting detached from the tape while tearing the tape.
The portable dispensers of the existing art though addressed the issue of size and weight but failed miserably in providing a stable and convenient-to-use dispenser that could withstand the diminishing size of roll thickness without the risk of getting dislodged from the roll. Further, with a blade/cutting means as an inherent part and an associated risk of getting dislodged make the dispensers of the existing art inappropriate for use by children and disabled persons.
It is, therefore, a need in the art to create a portable and detachable dispenser that, apart from providing a uniform cutting and reel locating means, must also provide a constant and positive holding force at all stages and all thicknesses of the reel. A dispenser of such a nature must not be dislodged at any instance unless specifically pulled out of the reel. Further, such a dispenser must be light weight and convenient to use to make it suitable for use by children and disabled persons.